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CATCHING UP: ZOMBIEFICATION — “BELOW THE GRIEF”

Jul 262018

Few people would probably notice, but I write very few album reviews unless they’re accompanying our premiere of a full album stream (and occasionally I include brief ones as part of a Sunday SHADES OF BLACK post). It’s not for lack of interest, but for lack of time. But I’ve been inspired by my friend DGR‘s massive catching-up exercise this week, in which he funneled 13 reviews our way in one fell swoop. There’s no way I can catch up to that extent, but I found myself with a little extra time over the last 24 hours, and so I’ve made a small effort to recommend two recent releases by bands near and dear to my black heart. One more will follow this review today.

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In his brief introduction to DECIBEL‘s premiere stream of Zombiefication‘s new album earlier this month, Dutch Pearce wrote that “this Mexican duo seem to have undergone a potent metamorphosis” since their last releases, and that “Below the Grief bombards the listener with sounds both reminiscent of the past and completely novel in the realm of death metal.” Although he didn’t elaborate, I would agree. Continue reading »

DGR’S MULTI-BAND REVIEW NIGHTMARE (PART 4): JACK KETCH, ALTARS OF GRIEF, ALUCINARI, APOPHYS

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Jul 262018

(DGR delivered a tome of reviews so massive that we decided to serialize it throughout the week so as to avoid fracturing your spine beneath its weight. This is the 4th and final part of the series.)

On occasion we find ourselves backlogged with albums that we want to write about but seem never able to find the time to do so. Sometimes this results in multiple review ideas getting tossed and never revisited, and at other times you get posts like this one as we deseperately try to hammer out a whole bunch of reviews about EVERYTHING that we’ve been listening to.

In this case that means 13 different releases, unsorted by genre and from all varying walks of all things heavy. So, with the floodgates now fully open, let us wade further forth into the rushing waters of heavy metal to recommend some stuff that perhaps might have flown by you.

Jack Ketch – Ashes Of Vesuvius

You may have caught it in the opening of my Light This City review, but a lot of bands who’ve been silent for the better part of a decade have decided that 2018 would be a good time to come back. Maybe it’s just the general sense that the world is on fire right now, but a bunch of groups are now putting stuff out as if they’ll never get another chance to do so. Among the increasing number that are returning to us are two local Sacramento acts, one of which released a new album I reviewed yesterday (Journal) and the other of which is Jack Ketch, whose new EP The Ashes Of Vesuvius is a stunning turn of events from the band’s previous material. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DEGRAVE — “DEGRAVE”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Jul 252018

By coincidence, in the NCS post immediately preceding this one my comrade DGR acknowledged that thrash has been “something of a blind spot for this site”. “We basically have a handful of favorites and will notice absolute standouts among newcomers, but overall we’ve never had a fully dedicated thrash person here”. And that’s all pretty much true — including the part about noticing absolute stand-outs among newcomers, and man, do I have one of those for you here in Missouri’s Degrave.

When I saw references to Vektor in the press materials for their new self-titled album, I was both excited and skeptical — because Vektor blaze like a meteor in the night sky, and the kind of stuff they pull off is hard for anyone to compete with. But it turns out that the music on this new Degrave album is legitimately mind-blowing.

These tracks are so head-spinning that it left this listener constantly bewildered and bedazzled, wide-eyed at the technical pyrotechnics on display here, and in a state of gob-smacked wonder at the sheer exuberant devilry displayed by the song-writing. I could hardly be more excited to share the full album stream with you today — and I say that for whom thrash is pretty far down the list of favorite metal genres Continue reading »

DGR’S MULTI-BAND REVIEW NIGHTMARE (PART 3): LIK, DECONSTRUCTING SEQUENCE, QUASARBORN

Album Reviews No Responses »

Jul 252018

(DGR delivered a tome of reviews so massive that we decided to serialize it throughout the week so as to avoid fracturing your spine beneath its weight. This is Part 3.)

LiK – Carnage

Every once in a while I pull the curtain back to reveal what the reveiw-writing process is like on this end, and Lik’s newest album Carnage provides the occasion for one of those times. It has been exceedingly difficult for me to review this album, not because Carnage is bad but because I have a very hard time with albums that are very clear about what they are trying to be, and when they nail that note so specifically and so well, it’s hard to talk about them without coming off as being on some sort of high horse. Continue reading »

DEATH RITUALS (PART 2): DIRE OMEN, UN, BINAH, PARASITE INC., IN DEMONI, GASH

Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET 4 Responses »

Jul 252018

This is the completion of a post I began yesterday, collecting new songs and videos that by coincidence all happened to fall under the vast umbrella of death metal, or were at least close enough in sound or spirit to merit the “DEATH RITUAL” heading of this post. Between yesterday and today, one more track appeared that I couldn’t resist including, and I also decided to begin with a review of a new EP that I should have posted sooner — but better late than never.

DIRE OMEN

Our history with Dire Omen goes back to 2011, when I came across their second promo and wrote it up in the 27th MISCELLANY post (and I’m wondering yet again why I let that series die of neglect). Since then, they’ve released a 2012 EP (Severing Soul From Flesh), a 2014 debut album on the Dark Descent label (Wresting the Revelation of Futility), and now a new EP (also through Dark Descent), Formless Fire Embodied. Obviously, these Canadians from Edmonton haven’t been prolific in their releases, but the care they’ve taken hasn’t been for naught, as you shall see. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SHED THE SKIN — “WE OF SCORN”

Album Reviews, Premieres 2 Responses »

Jul 242018

It takes a lot of skill and a lot of experience to do what Cleveland’s Shed the Skin have done, to make a death metal album that sounds like a heavy metal classic right out of the box, a fist-pumping, mosh-triggering, high-octane thing that’s part-anthem and part-homage to venerated traditions, but doesn’t come off as a formulaic re-tread. It has authentic spirit, tremendous energy — and it’s damned vicious, too. You can see the miles on those faces up above, but the wear plainly hasn’t worn them out — far from it.

The experience shows on the faces, but it’s on their resumes, too. This veteran line-up consists of Kyle Severn of Incantation on drums, Matt Sorg of Ringworm and Blood of Christ on guitars, Ash Thomas of Faithxtractor and Vladimirs on vocals and guitar, and Ed Stephens from Vindicator on bass. Together, they’ve created something special with this second album, We Of Scorn, which will be released by Hells Headbangers on July 27th and which you’ll get a chance to hear in full, below the following blocks of laudatory text. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DIS ORCUS — “SOMNAMBULISTIC VISIONS”

Album Reviews, Premieres No Responses »

Jul 242018

Most of us who are devoted to music from the black realms have at least a vague idea of what’s intended by the phrase “atmospheric black metal”. That’s probably not the correct genre description for Somnambulistic Visions, the debut album by the Ukrainian band Dis Orcus, yet the music is so persistently creepy, so cold, so stricken with a feeling of encroaching inhuman horror, that its success in creating a nightmarish, vampiric atmosphere is one of its signal accomplishments. True darkness is to be found here.

The songs are almost entirely mid-paced, the reverberating drums devoted to relatively simple rhythms that are somewhere between rocking and ritualistic. There’s virtually no blasting, no displays of physical excess. The beats are not exactly metronomic — they’re too unpredictable for that, too peppered with short snapping tones and bursts of double-bass rumble or martial tattoos — but they don’t get in the way of the main design of the music, which (as I perceive it) is to freeze the blood and to draw the mind into a hideous hallucination. (At the same time, however, they’re very effective in getting your head moving.) Continue reading »

DGR’S MULTI-BAND REVIEW NIGHTMARE (PART 2): INFRACTION, AXIS OF DESPAIR, JOURNAL

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Jul 242018

(DGR delivered a tome of reviews so massive that we decided to serialize it throughout the week so as to avoid fracturing your spine beneath its weight. This is Part 2.)

In this case that means 13 different releases, unsorted by genre and from all varying walks of all things heavy. So, with the floodgates now fully open, let us wade forth into the rushing waters of heavy metal to recommend some stuff that perhaps might have flown by you.

Infraction – Poshumous Release

It’s rare that we ge to type such a phrase but that’s the fun of writing about music, so here we go: You can blame Gadget for this one.

AUSTIN TERROR FEST 2018: A PHOTO RECORD (DAY 3)

Concert Reviews No Responses »

Jul 232018

The second annual installment of Austin Terror Fest took place in the heart of Texas on June 15-17, 2018, proudly co-sponsored by NCS. It featured performances by 30 bands from around the U.S. (and outside it). It was a great event, and we’re already anxious for ATF 2019 (and yes, work is already under way to present the third edition of the festival next year). We were very fortunate that New Orleans-based photographer Teddie Taylor was there to document the fest through her lenses, and to share her photos with us so that we, in turn, can share them with you.

Last week we presented photos from the first day of the festival and the second, and today the focus is on the performances that took place on the third and final day, with sets by nine bands at Austin’s Lost Well. And without further ado, here’s our selection from the many great images that Teddie captured during these performances: Continue reading »

SLIDHR: “THE FUTILE FIRES OF MAN”

Album Reviews No Responses »

Jul 232018

(We present Andy Synn‘s review of the new album by Slidhr, which was released by Ván Records on June 26th.)

I’ve seen it written in a few places over the last couple of months that 2018 hasn’t yet produced the same plethora of quality Black Metal releases that previous years have done.

And while there are undoubtedly multiple exceptions to this rule which we could all name at the drop of a hat (the new Funeral Mist, for one), for the most part I can see where these people are coming from, as this year has felt a little bit light on the ol’ brimstone and blasphemy front so far.

Thankfully however, the new album by Irish/Icelandic iconoclasts Slidhr is more than capable of rebalancing the scales in this regard. Continue reading »

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